The Screen Actors Guild Foundation has released the newest video to its children’s literacy website Storyline Online: I Need My Monster, written by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam and read by legendary actress, singer and author Rita Moreno.
To help inspire a love of reading in children, Story Online streams 25 creative videos that feature celebrated actors reading award-winning children’s books.
“I was thrilled to read I Need My Monster for Storyline Online,” said Rita Moreno, actor and SAG Life Achievement Award recipient. “Reading aloud to a child is one of the best ways to inspire imagination and a love of the written word, and Storyline Online is an outstanding resource for children, parents and teachers to achieve this goal.”
In addition to earning an Oscar, two Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy, the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of the Arts, Moreno received the 2013 SAG Life Achievement Award at the 20th Annual SAG Awards on January 18, 2014 for her career achievements and humanitarian work including her work with the SAG Foundation’s children’s literacy programs.
Moreno joins fellow SAG Life Achievement Award recipients Ernest Borgnine, James Earl Jones and Betty White as Storyline Online readers along with Annette Bening, Elijah Wood, Hector Elizondo and others.
"The SAG Foundation takes pride in providing a venue for actors to give back through their natural storytelling talents," said JoBeth Williams, SAG Foundation President. “We are so honored to have this year’s SAG Life Achievement Award recipient Rita Moreno join the ranks of our Storyline Online readers and help us in the important task of promoting children’s literacy in schools and at home.”
On Thursday, January 23, Moreno will read I Need My Monster to second and third grade students at Rosa Parks Elementary in Berkley, California.
With more than 50 million lifetime views, Storyline Online videos are available 24 hours a day for children, parents and educators around the world. For each video, the site provides supplemental curriculum developed by an early childhood literacy specialist that aims to strengthen comprehension, verbal and written skills for English-language learners worldwide. Visit Storyline Online at storylineonline.net.
